Final Purification
by BrokenRepublic
Summary: Scattered and imprisoned under false charges, Yuna and her guardians are powerless to stop the rise of the Unsent Army. With their waning strength, the Fayth manifest their dreams into flesh one last time to prevent another 1000 years of suffering.
1. Chapter 1

**Final Purification**

Full summary: The power vacuum left in Yevon's wake invites the reign of a new, charismatic autocrat that blinds Spira to Yuna's triumphs. Now scattered and imprisoned under false charges, Yuna and her guardians are powerless to stop the rise of the Unsent Army—a war machine fueled by the unforgiving might of the restless undead. With their waning strength, the Fayth manifest their dreams into flesh one last time to prevent another 1000 years of suffering.

Notes: I'm treating this as though FFX-2 doesn't exist since I've always felt that it never quite captured the spirit of the original game. In essence, this is my alternative to that story.

I like to keep things as canon as possible, so no OOC to be found here hopefully. There's no specific genre selected for this because the story in its entirety incorporates a fair share of most FFN-listed genres.

Special thanks to Atiaran for acting as my beta.

With all that said, enjoy!

* * *

><p><em>Have you ever felt like there was something important you had to do, but couldn't figure out what? If you stand still long enough, you go mad with the nagging sensation that you're wasting precious time. It eats at you all day long, pounding from within your skull like a heartbeat pumping restlessness all throughout your thoughts. What to do? What to <em>_do__? You think of everything under the sun, but nothing fits the puzzle. All you want to do is run…run right out the door and never stop running because your feet know where to guide you._

_I'm still running. There's no end in sight, but I know I have to run. It's my job—my sacred duty._

_Who am I? That's not so much the question as: __what__ am I?_

_I'm a dream. I keep the world running with me. Without a dream, the future can't exist. People yearn for a better tomorrow, and strive to realize it. Progress is made to achieve everything envisioned. But when the dream is fulfilled and no other rises to take its place, the world stops. People cease in their desire for a new tomorrow and the world, forced into a standstill, decays all around them._

_That's why I have to keep running—for their sake as well as mine._

_But some people resist change. They'll do anything to maintain the status quo and keep hold of their power, even while they watch everything perish under their ironfisted grip. Dreams have no place in a world reigned by recurring nightmares._

_Listen to my story. Everything depends on you._

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 1<strong>

Hidden from the world high in the mountains, a fortress that had withstood the test of time saw much attention after the Eternal Calm's commencement. Untouched by Sin, the structure built over one thousand years ago served as a secret prison for Yevon's most dastardly and dangerous heretics. Terrorists and usurpers occupied most cells, save for the ones on the lowest level. There, where the sun never shone and the stagnant, filth-ridden air bordered a toxic gas that maddened the minds of any without a protective mask, the hole-in-the-wall cells served to house those accused of the highest crimes.

When the machina elevator opened its doors in the dungeon's farthest depths, a squad of armored soldiers stomped out hauling their chained prisoner: a ragged, broken woman who had long ago lost the strength to resist. Down the dank corridor they marched, giving the woman an occasional beating with the butt of their rifles whenever the cuts she incurred to her bare feet along the way hindered her movement. A cacophony of howls and screams echoed from the torture chamber, and the stench of death and other filth grew more potent the deeper they traveled within dungeon.

They at last arrived at the woman's designated cell. A guard shoved her in, and the prisoner fell to her knees, scraping them against the rough ground as she forced herself back to her feet. Disoriented by the pain and the maddening smells churning her stomach, the prisoner stumbled back towards the door only to earn a hard slap across the face by an armored hand.

"Get back in there, wench," sneered the one guard.

Now lying flat on the ground, the prisoner whimpered a weak and shaky "please", to which the guard laughed.

"Look here, boys; the murderer wants some sympathy!"

The other guards laughed too.

"Well she'd get some from Maester Mika…_if he weren't dead_." The guard kneeled next to the prisoner's teary face. "And why do you think the most compassionate man in all Spira's dead, eh?" He grabbed the prisoner by her sweat-soaked hair and lifted her head up close to him so that she stared straight into his gas mask. "Because _you_ killed him."

The prisoner's head dropped, banging and scraping her chin against the ground. She wanted to protest, but her strength left her. How many times in the past had she tried to convince them of the truth? All words failed, and the grunts were the last people to listen to reason.

"Have a pleasant stay, _Lady Yuna_," the guard jeered before slamming the metal door shut and locking it.

A long time passed and Yuna continued to lie motionless on the cold, soiled ground. At last she slowly pushed herself up, stumbling at first but finally able to sit. Raising her pale, shaky hands, she pressed her palms together and bowed her head in silent prayer.

"_Please…help me…"_

* * *

><p>There was a rhythm somewhere in the background. Like a heartbeat ticking away under layers of the city's normal reverberations, he could hear the beat forcing an unnatural order within the chaotic street. Everywhere, people were shuffling past him chitchatting, either to each other or on their phones, and blaring music out of their headphones loud enough for everyone to hear. Lampposts crackled with the latest holographic displays, and newscasters of all kinds added to the mesh of blurring noise with their talks of Blitzball, interviews, and traffic updates.<p>

But Tidus deafened himself to all the hustle and bustle, choosing to focus on the haunting rhythm pulsating through life itself. He stilled his body, ignoring the people who bumped into him. Only the rhythm and beat mattered. They vibrated through his whole head, at first like a small tremor, but then, the longer he concentrated, rumbled like a full-blown earthquake. Then, like ground splitting open into a chasm, his perception of reality tore in two and the resulting rift allowed his true memories to resurface.

"_Someone's sleeping_," Tidus realized. His mind clouded and resisting his attempts to focus. But the more he struggled to think, the louder the subtle sounds of a million slumbering people grew until the haze in Tidus' mind began to wane.

For what seemed like an eternity, Tidus hadn't been able to remember his identity, nor could he recall the treasured memories of his past adventures. Days had passed, as he led a mundane life under a different name as if he were an amnesiac enlisted for the witness protection program. Believing himself hydrophobic, he stayed away from Blitzball, keeping company only with the barkeeper at the nearest pub and the old lady whose cat always tipped over Tidus' trashcans.

His life as Tidus, Blitzball player and son of Jecht, had eluded him for the longest time. But now with each sleepy inhale, he recovered a face from his past; with each exhale, a daring battle. The time he spent in Spira soon came flooding into his mind, even if he couldn't remember everything quite yet.

"Hello again."

And then the world stopped.

Everyone froze as if modeling for a still-frame. An eerie silence blanketed the city, but Tidus' heartbeat didn't follow suit. It raced, pounding against his chest as his wide eyes fell on the little boy dressed in exotic, indigo robes.

"It's been a long time."

"You…" Tidus took a step closer to the boy, hunching over to better look at the face veiled behind the cloth hood. "I know you…"

"I should hope so."

"But why—how?"

"It's very important that you remember everything yourself."

"Can't you just tell me?"

"If I do, the spell will never be broken."

"Spell?"

"Yes," the boy nodded before vanishing and reappearing behind him a few feet away. "Now…let's start simply. Do you remember your name?"

"Of course I do. I'm Tidus, star player of the Zanarkand Abes!" he said with pride, placing his hands on his hips and striking a pose to show off his well-toned muscles. "Want an autograph?"

"No, thank you," the boy chuckled. "Can you tell me how you came to this city?"

"I was born and raised here." It was an automatic response, like a program that overrode his common sense. He remembered hearing about the fate of Zanarkand—remembered the tales of its destruction and rebirth through a dream—but he could feel a mental barrier still forcing back all of his personal experiences. It blurred the lines between fact and fiction, anesthetizing his conscious thought to further the delusions of a fabricated identity.

"I mean, how did you _really_ come to be here?" the boy pressed.

There was a pause. Tidus wanted to laugh and say, "No, really. This is my home, little guy. Don't you get it?" But he didn't.

In that moment, when he stopped to fight the numbness in his head and to _really_ consider the question, a chain reaction tipped the thoughts in his mind like a row of dominos. One thought crashed into another until the outline of a faint memory left its impression in his mind like a picture-in-picture TV screen. He saw the boy standing before him, and at the same time, saw him again in his mind's eye.

But the two images didn't match, even though he recognized them as the same person. There in his mind, swamped amidst the hazy bog of memories that ebbed with the endless rhythm of a million sleep-filled breaths, he saw a dragon—the king of dragons_—Bahamut_, and it all came crashing through the dam of lies to smack him upside the head with an invisible hand.

"It's you! You're the Fayth!" Tidus jumped, landing back on his feet with his knees bent as though anticipating another phantom strike. "This is your dream," he said in answer to the earlier-posed question. "You dreamed me here."

The Fayth smiled. "That's right."

"But…how?" Tidus furrowed his brows in contemplation. "Man…my head's all foggy-like. Didn't I do something to set you free? I thought you were supposed to be resting now…"

"Try to piece together what happened the last time we met."

Tidus caressed his chin, reviewing the final events before he'd faded from existence. "I smacked my old man around some—I remember that," he said, intentionally omitting the bit where he cried as Jecht died in his arms. "And then we faced off against you and your friends."

"_We_?"

"Yeah, the other guardians and me."

"Can you name everyone who was with you? Picture them in your mind as you describe them."

"Why? I remember them just fine now."

"It's necessary to break the spell."

"Well, okay," said Tidus with a nod. "Wakka and Lulu, who kind of acted like everyone's big brother and sister; Auron, the high and mighty 'Legendary Guardian' who thought he knew it all; Rikku, the crafty thief and chemist who could make a bomb out of the most useless items; and finally, Kimahri Ronso, the big blue and silent type who was good with a spear, and even better with a fearsome roar."

He saw them there in his mind's eye. Their adventure in its entirety played like a video on rewind, starting from the moment he said his last goodbyes, and cycling through every last detail of their journey—all the laughter and sadness; the good times and the bad; the fun games and the ferocious battles—until it stopped at the moment when he first met the Al Bhed at the Temple of Baaj.

"That's everyone?"

"Yup."

"You're certain?"

"Hey, it's like I said: that's everyone who was there."

"Who were you guarding?"

Tidus' mouth went dry. "What?"

"You and your friends were tasked as guardians. Ergo, you must have been guarding someone—a person who was there amidst the chaos. Who was it?"

"I…" He hesitated as he saw the faded image of a woman's smile flicker in and out of his mind's eye before it retreated behind what remained of the damaged mental barrier. "It was—_she_ was…someone special, but…" Clenching his fists, he let out an annoyed grunt. "I can't remember!"

"You _must_ remember. If you don't, you'll lose her forever."

"This is crazy!" Tidus shouted. "I can remember _everything_ we did together—going on the pilgrimage, flying on the airship, telling stories by the campfire, beating Sin—everything! But when I think about _her_, it's like there's nothing there. I'm drawing a complete blank!"

"That's because out of all your experiences, her memory is what you cherish most," the Fayth explained. "Keep trying; don't give up."

Tidus pulled at his hair, squatting over to shake his head in irritation. "Grr…why is this happening to me? Why?" Closing his eyes tight, he forced back a stream of tears. Whoever that woman was, the mere thought of forgetting her pained him in ways that he couldn't understand.

"Think about her, Tidus," the Fayth goaded. "Really think about her. What was she like—her voice, her demeanor, her touch? Who was she to you and why do you cherish her so?"

Another crack tore into the already battered roadblock in his head, and the face of the unknown woman peeked in through the opening. The smile returned with more clarity, and it conveyed more than happiness. Brushing past the surface, Tidus could see a deep sadness that pained him all the more. He wanted to make her happy—truly happy—without understanding why. He could see her face, most prominently the pair of kind eyes to match her smile. She wore a dress unique to her homeland, woven from the finest silk in all of Spira as proof of her lineage and status.

The more he studied her, the more solid she became until the blockade that shielded her fully collapsed. He heard her voice laugh, worry, and cry; he heard her give inspiring speeches and informative explanations; and then he heard her say the three words that justified the pain in his heart.

"Yuna!" Tidus stood and wiped the tears from his eyes. "How could I forget Yuna?"

"And who was Yuna?"

"The summoner I swore to always protect. We beat Sin together, and now, I'm sure all of Spira's rejoicing under her rule and Eternal Calm." He paused and then added in a low, saddened voice, "She means everything to me, and I'll never see her again…"

There was a moment of silence; then the Fayth teleported to the dead center of the road's apex. "Good, good," he said, prompting Tidus to turn around in the direction of his voice. "I sense that you truly remember all there is to remember. Now the spell is broken."

"What's the deal with that so-called spell, anyway? I didn't suffer much other than a serious case of amnesia…"

A wicked smile twisted across the boy's darkening face, giving a clear view of his sharp fangs. "The Fayth cast the spell to protect you from me."

"Huh?" Tidus watched in horror as a dark, foreboding aura encircled the demon-fanged child like a tornado and lifted him several feet off the ground. The once indigo robes inverted to crimson and the boy's eyes sparked with a lightning yellow hue.

"You've unwittingly shed your own protective barrier, fool," the demon mocked in its new, eerie baritone voice.

"You're not a Fayth!" Tidus shouted in anger, sliding his feet apart in preparation for the inevitable fight. "Who are you and what do you want with me?"

"I am but a servant bound to fulfill the desires of my contractor—one who wishes the dream of the Fayth dead. And now that you've allowed me unrestricted access to your soul, foolish Tidus, I will break you."

The impostor flicked his hands up, clapping them together before his face to press the two palms together. Tipping his head forward, he chanted a spell of his own that concentrated a field of blue-tinted energy into his hands. The chanting increased in speed and volume, and the energy field lashed like a whip towards Tidus.

The star athlete's honed reflexes kicked into gear, lunging him out of harm's way. He dived and he dodged all across the highway, but wherever he fled, the blue energy followed close on his heels until it lassoed around his ankles. A jolt of pain akin to a high-voltage electrical shock surged through his whole body, forcing him to the ground. His entire body burned like a sun and his solid form grew transparent while the pressure building in his head threatened to knock him unconscious. All the memories and feelings he regained blanked from his mind, leaving nothing behind except the echoes of his own screams.

With his victim crying out his last breaths, the unnamed demon chanted faster to rid himself of the pitifully weak and whiny man. So engrossed in his spell was he, that he failed to notice a shift in the atmosphere. Whirling above the streets, highways, and buildings was a blanket of thick, turbulent clouds that thundered and roared as prelude to an oncoming storm.

A bolt of lightning struck across the sky, piercing an opening through the clouds and giving way to a falling object. It plummeted towards the highway with impeccable speed, burning with a fiery red aura as it continued in its descent. Streaking down from the heavens, the object crashed into the road creating a gaping crater just five hundred feet from where Tidus writhed in pain. Shockwaves rippled through the asphalt and dissolved the frozen pedestrians still cluttering the roads.

The sheer force of impact broke the demon's concentration and liberated Tidus from its damning spell.

"Who dares disrupt me?" howled the enraged demon.

"I do."

Emerging from the swirling dust and debris, Auron rose to his feet with sword in hand. After pushing his silver-rimmed sunglasses back up the bridge of his nose with his free hand, he jumped out of the crater and stalked closer to the imposter Fayth. When he neared Tidus, he stopped just before the unconscious body and kneeled over to nudge him awake.

"Don't interfere, or you will suffer the same fate," the demon warned, but Auron paid him no mind.

Infuriated by the lack of response, the fiend summoned a chunk from the dark aura still coiling around him and launched it at the meddler. The ball of darkness streamed through the air, and in one fell move, the man jerked his arm to shield his head. Upon impact with Auron's golden bracer, the darkness dispersed without damage.

With a groan, Tidus opened his eyes a crack and rolled over flat on his back to look up into the face of his savior. At first, he couldn't register what he saw through all the blur and haze, but after blinking away the fog, his body jerked back in shock of the sight.

"Auron!"

"Run."

"Wha—"

"I said run!" Auron interjected, grabbing Tidus by the collar and forcing him to his feet.

Without another word, Tidus spun on his heel and ran as fast as his legs would take him, leaving Auron behind to face-off with the imposter Fayth.

"You will suffer for intervening!" roared the demon, its eyes erupting into flames as its body quadrupled in size. It shed its human-like skin and took the form of a giant, crimson wraith.

But the true, ethereal form of the creature didn't deter the mighty guardian. With an amused smirk behind his tall, grey collar, he grabbed his katana with both hands and focused his energy into the blade. Multicolored wisps bounced all along the blade until they whirled around it like a cyclone. Taking a giant step forward with his right foot, Auron slashed his katana down vertically, inciting four orbs of energy imprinted with ancient texts to spout from the blade and charge into the wraith. The awesome might of the Banishing Blade trembled throughout the wraith, and it howled into the sky as its body burst into pyreflies and scattered into multiple directions.

After watching the dispersed pyreflies fade from sight, Auron shouldered his katana and ran after Tidus. The two met up further down the road, where Tidus leaned his weary frame against a nearby lamppost to catch his breath.

"What's going on, Auron?"

"It isn't safe to talk just yet," the guardian said. "Look." He nodded towards the horizon, where a swarm of pyreflies flew in and morphed into various ghosts and wraiths. They flocked together and flew towards the two warriors with their ghoulish screeches and shrieks echoing into the night air.

Tidus wiped the sweat from his brow and staggered off the lamppost. "You've got to be kidding me."

"You must recover quickly."

"Hey, I almost bit the big one! Cut me some slack."

"No rest for the weary." Auron slid his feet apart and readied his katana.

"What am I supposed to do—punch them to death?"

"Use this." With his free hand, Auron handed a spare sword to his companion.

"Just like old times, huh?" Tidus gave an expert twirl of the blade and crouched into his own fighting stance. "That's more like it!"

"Brace yourself; here they come!"

The mob of wailing spirits flowed in like a giant wave, splashing straight into the two warriors and encircling them in a giant dome of phantom fiends. Swords slashed through the air to parry the onslaught of claws and bewitching spells, and one by one the spirits began to fade into pyreflies. Tidus and Auron fought back-to-back, seldom moving too far from the center of the ring until the numbers thinned enough to allow them more elbowroom.

By the time they narrowed it down to the last handful of fiends, Tidus' reflexes had slowed by a dangerous margin, leaving him a prime target for the remaining ghouls. They levitated skyward away from Auron's reach and concentrated all their power into one final attack aimed at Tidus. Connecting their claws together, the ghosts formed a circle high above the heads of the vulnerable warriors and began chanting the spell for instant death.

"Run!" Auron shouted, but it was too late. No longer able to fend off his weariness, Tidus collapsed to one knee, using his sword as a crutch to keep himself from toppling over altogether.

"I need rest…" Tidus panted as dark bolts of static crackled around the fiendish ring. The grim reaper had been summoned, and he set his merciless sights on the wounded and vulnerable dream.

Acting fast, Auron once again took his katana into both hands. Praying silently in his head, he summoned forth a great air current that raged around him with increasing velocity. When the rushing winds bloomed into a giant cyclone that reached towards the heavens, Auron spun his whole body around to give it an extra powerful edge before launching it towards the ring of ghosts.

The tornado in all its fury sped to engulf the fiends and their spell, sucking them all into its vortex. To seal the deal, Auron grabbed his cask of sake from off his belt and chucked it into the tornado, sending the whole thing up in flames and effectively destroying all the fiends.

When the fires died down and the wind slackened, Auron turned his full attention to Tidus. "Can you stand?" he asked, placing a hand on the weary man's shoulder.

"I think so." Forcing all his weight onto his sword, Tidus hoisted himself up and hobbled a bit before regaining his balance.

"We need to keep moving."

"Moving to go where? This place can't be real, so I don't see any point in running around if there's no way out."

"There is a way, but we must search for it."

"Just what I need: an exit that likes to play hide and seek…" Tidus let out an exasperated sigh and shook his head. "Lead the way."

The two hadn't gone more than a few yards before a large fireball hurtled into the road and set their escape path aflame. "There is no escape!" boomed an all-too familiar voice.

"Not you again!" Tidus groaned as the crimson wraith emerged from the wall of fire. "What's with ghosts not wanting to stay dead?"

"The only death you will find here is your own!" Digging his claws into the asphalt, the crimson wraith dragged them along the crumbling ground until molten lava spewed from the cracks. The whole highway rumbled and quaked as more streams of orange lava gushed out to incinerate everything they touched.

"Whoa!" Tidus tumbled over from the sheer magnitude of the quakes, and rolled smack into a melting rail guard. With most of his energy still drained from the earlier near-death experience, he could do little more than stumble away from the heat source and collapse behind Auron.

"Dream of the Fayth," the wraith bellowed with the eerie voice that sent chills down Tidus' spine, "your destiny is rewritten and your continued existence is denied."

Auron had heard enough. Holding his blade like a baseball bat, he charged the wraith and swung into its abdomen hard enough to launch it clear into the horizon. "That should buy us some time," he said, walking fast towards Tidus and helping him to his feet. "We must hurry."

No sooner did Tidus move to use Auron as a crutch for their escape when the earthquake tore the highway in two. Bits of road broke off and fell into the city miles below while the support beams fractured to further destabilize the ground. The cataclysmic collapse of the whole metropolitan highway filled the hollow city with echoes of its destruction.

Forcing all his pain aside, Tidus gritted his teeth and sprinted to safety with Auron running right beside him. But his weary mind started to hallucinate the more his adrenaline pumped and he saw a flat road where there was none. Without realizing it, Tidus ran clear off a caved-in edge. He fell, arms flailing in a desperate attempt to grab at a jagged piece of concrete or a loose-hanging cable. But everything smacked against his open palm in vain and he continued to plummet to his end until a strong hand grabbed hold of his forearm and yanked him back to the upper-level.

"Auron…!"

"Stay still," the guardian ordered as he grabbed Tidus by the collar. Auron had jumped after him, leaning over the edge of the broken highway and supporting himself only by wrapping his legs around a protruding steel rod.

After many slow and agonizing seconds, he had hauled Tidus back up and out of immediate danger. But the two weren't allowed much time to rest; the crimson wraith reemerged and swooped down from the sky to finish his mission.

"The time has come," said the wraith. "This world will bury you!"

"Don't you _ever_ give up?" Tidus muttered. He shifted his expectant gaze towards Auron. "What now?"

Taking a moment to gauge his surroundings, Auron looked around the still-crumbling road until a flash caught his eye. Just a few hundred feet away, he noticed a different sort of crack tearing through the city. It was a three-dimensional rip in the fabric of reality—one that emitted a bright, golden light. He'd found their exit.

"There," he said, nodding towards the rift.

Tidus followed Auron's eyes and squinted at the light. "Are you serious?" But Auron didn't reply; he took off for the rift. "Hey!" Not wasting a second, Tidus followed while the crimson wraith continued to hover in the sky charging its energy for the final blast.

When they reached the crack in reality, Auron stepped to the side and eyed Tidus. "Go," he instructed.

Tidus cocked his head to the side to examine it, squinting his eyes to try and peer through the blinding glow. "Is it safe?" In place of a reply, he received a rough shove to the back that sent him stumbling into the rift.

"_What have you done_?" The wraith erupted in fury, its whole body exploding into flames like a Mi'ihen Bomb. It raised its clawed hand up high, conjuring up a fireball ten times larger than the last and launching it straight at Auron.

Once again grasping his katana like a bat, Auron eyed the ball as it hurtled towards him, and then in one fluid motion, struck it straight back at its pitcher before dashing off into the rift himself.

* * *

><p>Tidus fell through an endless, pitch-black void until he came to a sudden stop. Suspended in nothingness, he found he could walk as if his feet touched solid ground. He looked around for any signs of movement or life, but could see nothing beyond the ethereal, golden light emanating from his body.<p>

He started to walk in a random direction, hoping to at least find an exit. But a sudden voice stopped him.

"Look sharp; there isn't much time," said Auron as he appeared behind Tidus, his body also glowing with a golden aura.

"Well that's a nice way to greet someone!" Tidus huffed. "How about some answers for a change? What's going on and where are we?"

"This is the last connection between the dream world and Spira, now that Sin is no more," said a new voice.

Tidus jumped when the transparent and glowing frame of the young Fayth appeared before him. He was kneeling, clutching at his chest while struggling to keep his head raised. The amount of pyreflies floating around his body was greater than Tidus remembered, signifying the Fayth's struggle to stay whole.

"You really never give up, do you?" Tidus tried to reach for his sword, but realized it had been lost during his trip through the rift.

"Relax," said Auron. "He is the true Fayth."

Tidus' eyes widened. "Hey, you're hurt!" He rushed over to the Fayth's side and knelt beside him. "What happened to you?"

"There isn't much time. The other Fayth and I have been forced from our rest. The Farplane's been corrupted by a dark magic that we're unfamiliar with, and it's taken everything we've had just to piece you back together again."

"Is this because Yuna performed the sending on Yu Yevon?"

"No." The Fayth's voice grew shaky and strained. "Someone…someone has disrupted the flow. I'm so very…weak…"

Tidus wanted to put his hands on the boy's shoulders—to support him somehow—but everything passed straight through the transparent spirit. "Tell me how I can help!" he said frantically. "Quick!"

It took a long time for the Fayth to respond. His form grew fainter and the pyreflies streaming around him increased in number. "The ultimate weapon is inside of you—you who share in our dream," he sputtered with what little remained of his strength.

The Fayth melted into the darkness, leaving Tidus confused and frustrated.

"What happened to him?"

"The Fayth is weak," said Auron. "He has used a great deal of energy in directing me to your location and then forging our escape."

"But why? Why did he and the others risk so much to bring me back?"

"You will see soon enough."

Tidus shot up to his feet and threw his hands up in the air. "Not again—not at a time like this! Why do you have to be so cryptic? Didn't you hear him? This is serious, Auron!"

"There is not enough time to explain. With the Fayth gone, there is nothing to anchor us here. We, too, will fade."

"Fade into where?"

"Where else?" Auron's body turned transparent.

"Wait, you can't go! I still don't know what's going on!"

"We will meet again, soon. Until then, find Yuna and guard her."

"Yuna? What does she have to do with this?"

But Auron didn't answer. Like the Fayth before him, his frame lost its glow and the darkness swallowed him.

"Hey! Don't leave me hanging like this! Is Yuna in danger? And how come you're still alive? _Hey_!"

Tidus continued to shout into the infinite expanse of the void until he, too, began to fade. Yet right before he vanished, a familiar voice called for him in the distance.

"_Dream of the Fayth, know this: there is nowhere you can hide from me_!_ No matter your alias, no matter your weapons, no matter your allies—I will crush you and sentence you to a fate worse than death_!"

Tidus scoffed. "Keep dreaming, buddy."

His light faded, and the blackness enveloped him like a blanket. Unlike when Sin had sucked him into its inter-dimensional gravitational vortex, Tidus felt his body calm and at peace, rather than struggling to maintain its equilibrium throughout Sin's erratic flight. A gentle sleep washed over him and he closed his eyes for what seemed like but a few minutes when a sudden splash forced him awake.

Flailing his arms and gasping for air, Tidus coughed up several spurts of fresh water before steadying himself. The trip through the void had sent him crashing into the middle of a deserted lake where the pale sun sat low on the horizon. Several mossy ruins jutted from all corners of the area where various birds fixed their nests. They chirped and they cackled, eyeing Tidus as he first gauged his surroundings and then swam for land.

"Doesn't _anything_ ever change?" he wondered as he did the breaststroke to shore.

He was halfway there when a giant fish with blood-red eyes and sharp fangs jumped out of the water, flipped its tail in the sky, and dove back in with a hefty splash right behind Tidus. It circled around him underwater and tried to bite him, but the athlete put his skills to the test and kicked the fiend.

Diving under water, Tidus practiced his tackles on the flesh-hungry fish. He rammed himself into it and sent a couple more kicks flying straight into its eyes before torpedoing himself out of there. Tidus breached the surface just as two more fish joined the fray, and he swam even faster towards the nearest shore.

The fiends gained on him, jumping out of the water and crashing just behind him. The waves they created veered Tidus off course and pushed him towards an aging tower of rubble. He smacked into the tower with a grunt, and the force of impact shook several crumbled stones off its sides. That gave Tidus an idea.

He waited for the fiends to close in, watching as they raced towards him under the clear, blue water with fangs brandished. Then, balling his fists tight, Tidus started punching the unstable tower. His leather gloves gave him little protection as he pounded the rocks free and sent them hurtling down towards the oncoming group of fish. Large, cracked blocks of stone plummeted into the water, traumatizing Tidus' pursuers long enough for him to flee.

Heart racing and knuckles aching, Tidus finally touched land. But before he could take a moment to calm himself, he heard someone shout in a harsh, commanding voice. Then, a small, pineapple-textured device landed at his feet. Smoke exploded from both its ends, and when it cleared, Tidus found himself staring down the barrels of four rifles.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

A small team of men had surrounded Tidus. Dressed in faded, tattered garments and brandishing antique rifles, they shouted at their captive in their native tongue and signaled for him to put his hands in the air. It took a few disgruntled shouts from the testy group for Tidus to recognize the language, and he couldn't help but smile in relief.

"You're Al Bhed!" he exclaimed, now leaning forward to get a better look into one of the men's unshielded eyes. Their green and black, swirling pupils confirmed it.

At the sudden motion, an Al Bhed promptly shoved Tidus and shouted more frantic, unintelligible words.

"Whoa, take it easy! I'm not a fiend, if that's what you're—wait, you can't understand me, can you?" Tidus furrowed his brows, and then gave himself a sudden whack against the head. "Come on, come on! I know it's in there _somewhere_!"

The Al Bhed looked to each other in confusion as Tidus tilted his head to the side and continued to smack himself as if trying to dislodge something stuck deep within his ear. Then, with a triumphant "Aha!" he cleared his throat and straightened his posture, saying: "_Hela du saad oui_!"

The sudden greeting caught the Al Bhed off guard. They murmured to each other, uncertain of how to proceed when another of their kind marched from out of a thick patch of the surrounding vegetation and called out them. Young and laid-back, the newcomer dressed in more vibrant attire, although his shirt and shorts were frayed and full of holes. Like the others, he didn't shield his eyes with goggles or a gasmask the way most of the other Al Bhed Tidus encountered in the past had done. A small breeze blew through his soft, blond hair as his swirled eyes roamed from his teammates to their captive.

Tidus waited in nervous anticipation while the Al Bhed consulted with the newcomer, and was relieved to see that after a few words from him, the Al Bhed lowered their guns and backed away.

"So you speak our language, do you?" said the impressed newcomer as he approached and gave Tidus a quick once-over.

Tidus let out a nervous chuckle. "Not exactly. I picked up that phrase while staying at a bunch of travel inns. My friend Rikku usually has to translate for me."

"Did you say _Rikku_?" The man's eyes narrowed. "As in Cid's daughter?"

"Yeah! Have you two met?"

"I'd be surprised if we hadn't. She's my cousin."

Tidus' eyes widened. "She's your _what_?"

"I'm Dyce. Cid's my Pop's brother."

"Tidus," the athlete replied, sticking out his hand for Dyce to shake. But the man couldn't be bothered to pull his hands from his pockets.

"How do you know Rikku?"

"Well, we first met kinda the same way you and I just did. She and I helped Yuna on her pilgrimage."

"And you know Yuna, too? Just who are you?"

Tidus thought for a moment, unsure of how to respond. "I'm… Yuna's guardian," he answered at last. To his surprise, Dyce leaned back and gave a hearty laugh. "What's so funny?"

"You're something else," Dyce said as he recomposed himself. "You take me for a secluded dupe, don't you? I know this is the Isle of Letho, but come on! _We're Al Bhed_. You think we don't get Spiran sphere feeds even all the way out here?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Tidus said, frowning and balling his fists.

"Look here, Mr. Funny-clothes: maybe you know my cousins and maybe you don't. But a guardian to the Fallen Summoner Yuna? There's no way."

"What are you talking about—_Fallen Summoner_ Yuna? What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, this certainly is…_unexpected_, for lack of a better word. You really don't know, do you?" Dyce looked Tidus square in the eye. "If you were really her guardian, you'd either be locked up or dead. Yuna and her consorts were arrested and tried for high crimes against Yevon. They're to be executed soon, or something like that."

Tidus felt the blood drain from his face and his mouth went dry. "What?"

"I heard they've already offed some people who allegedly 'obstructed justice' by hiding her from the authorities. To be Yuna's guardian means to be rotting away in a dungeon somewhere. So unless you're trying to tell me you just broke out of prison with all that meat on your bones and pep to your voice, I'd say you're no guardian of hers."

Every word fell like an anvil on Tidus' head, sending him spinning and almost losing his balance. He stumbled to a nearby stone pillar and leaned against it, breathing hard as his heart pounded chilled blood through his veins.

"Please," he said in a strained voice that fought back the tears. "Tell me what happened."

Dyce studied Tidus for a moment before replying, scrutinizing his posture and livid face. Perhaps he took pity on him because he cleared his throat and spoke in a more professional tone. "I'm fuzzy on the exact details since we weren't within range at the time of the incident. Apparently, after Yuna tried to take credit for defeating Sin, some guy interrupted her victory speech and accused her of treachery, treason, and murder. Said something about her assassinating the Yevon big wigs and—of all things—_conspiring with the Al Bhed_ to incite an insurrection."

Tidus gritted his teeth and punched the pillar again and again, hard enough to send more rubble into the lake. "That's a lie!" he shouted. "A damned lie!"

Startled by the outburst, the Al Bhed raised their guns, but Dyce signaled them to remain calm. "You don't have to tell me twice. I mean, I know my uncle's a hothead, but I can't see the guy letting my little cousins run around killing clergymen."

With a violent kick, Tidus sent what remained of the decrepit pillar tumbling into the water. "Tell me who's responsible! I want names!"

"You know, I have better things to do with my time than remember the name of every deranged Yevonite to rant on the spherewaves."

"Are you kidding me? How can you not know who's responsible for imprisoning your family?" Tidus charged up to Dyce and shoved an accusatory finger in the man's calm face. "And why aren't you out there trying to get Yuna's name cleared? Or don't you care what happens to your own flesh and blood?"

Before Dyce could answer, the surrounding Al Bhed grabbed Tidus by the shoulder, yanking him away and shoving him to the side. They shouted harsh words in their native tongue, making gestures with their guns that Tidus didn't like at all. Dyce said a few calm words, his demeanor nowhere near as shaken as anyone else's—Tidus included—but the gunmen didn't immediately back down. One of them argued with Dyce in an agitated voice while jerking his gun in Tidus' direction to add emphasis.

Dyce touched the agitated Al Bhed on the shoulder, said something that eased the tension, and then turned to Tidus. "Would you relax? You're making my friends nervous."

"Making your—are you _insane_?" Tidus just about blew steam out of his ears. "Yuna and Rikku are in trouble! How can you sit around this backwater island without a care in the world?"

"Tidus, right? I'll have you know I'm no stranger to family deaths," Dyce said while casually picking the dirt clean from his nails and flicking it off to the side. "Lost my aunts, my brothers, my sisters, my grandparents, and a bunch more others. That's life, man. One day we're here, the next we're six-footing it to the Farplane. If I stopped and worried about all that death and despair, I'd never have a moment's peace." He paused to polish his nails on his shirt before pocketing his hands. "Best to just let it go and try to find my own happiness in life before I join them, you know?"

Tidus stared at the cool-headed, laid-back Dyce with a white-hot anger raging through him. He could feel the wary eyes of the Al Bhed training on him as he again advanced on their leader, stopping mere feet from his unflinching face. "The only thing I know," Tidus said in a low, heated voice, "is that there are innocent people you should love and care about who are in danger, and you're too selfish and full of yourself to even remember the name of the monster responsible for their death sentence!"

They locked eyes for what seemed like an eternity before Dyce sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "What brings you to the Isle of Letho, Tidus? Certainly you didn't come out all the way here looking for Yuna's sympathizers—not this far from Spiran waters?"

"What are you saying; we're not in Spira?"

"Far from it."

"But I thought there weren't any places outside of Spira?"

Dyce laughed. "Oh, those Yevonites… If they could, they'd have you believe the sun is a monster that'll eat you if you ever try to get too close. But you know better, right, _Mr. Guardian_?"

Tidus wanted to smack him one, but that last bit gave him an idea. "Do you have an airship?"

Dyce laughed again, this time louder and harder enough for his eyes to tear. "Oh, you really are too much! The fact that Uncle Cid fished himself a ship out of the sea doesn't mean all the Al Bhed have ships buried like treasure in odd places all over the globe."

"I'm not here claiming to be the world's expert on the Al Bhed, let alone a master geographer. Yuna's in trouble, and if what you're telling me about the other guardians is true, then you and your little islander pals are the only ones who can help me rescue everyone! Now are you going to help me or not?"

"Why do you care so much about what happens to those guys?"

"It's because they're what I treasure most in this world and I can't go on living without them," Tidus replied in a firm, unyielding voice. "There wouldn't be a point."

Dyce merely went from a pensive frown to a dazed, somewhat amused smile. Still standing with his hands pocketed and his open tropical shirt waving in the breeze, he demonstrated no immediate outward concern. Yet after studying Tidus' determined stance for some time, he eventually let out a long, resigned sigh. "Alright," he said, signaling to the others, "I guess I have no choice. Let's go see Pop."

After speaking a few words in Al Bhed, he turned and trekked back into the thick patch of vegetation with Tidus behind him and the others bringing up the rear. Not too far from the lake was a campsite fashioned from gigantic palm leaves, branches and mud. A small campfire crackled just outside the largest hut where a pot of grey mystery liquid bubbled. Some Al Bhed stopped mixing gunpowder and chemicals in their crudely carved stone bowls to stare at the entourage passing through the camp. They called into the huts, and soon, everyone came out to watch.

When the Al Bhed greeted the returning group, they made a reach for their rifles upon setting their sights on Tidus. But Dyce calmed them as he passed, and they only glared at the unknown visitor as Dyce led the way into a nearby hut. He and Tidus both entered, while the others stood guard outside.

The inside of the hut was nothing spectacular. Insects buzzed about the various emptied plates that were left piled in the corner next to a rolled-up sleeping bag. In the center of the room rested a large table constructed out of uneven planks of wood that were supported by two boulders placed on either side. Several smaller boulders made out the seats, and a large parchment that looked to be a map was extended the full length of the table with several pebbles placed in key locations.

In the farthest end of the hut, another table was pressed up against the wall where a window had been dug out of the mud wall to overlook a patch cleared of flora. Several pieces of machina lay strewn along the table, some of which made beeping noises while others emitted static. Long cables protruded from a few of them, and were strung out the window and coiled around a long metal rod that was planted in the ground.

"Yo, Pop! We've got a visitor," said Dyce upon entering.

"Why are you speaking in that confounded language?" grunted a gruff voice from outside the window. "Don't tell me that durn Hypello's come scrounging 'round again! I swore I'd kill 'im if he made another grab for my radar and I aim to make good on my word!" There was a loud snap followed by the man muttering in Al Bhed as he thumped around the hut and entered through the door.

A large, towering man ducked into the hut. Standing straight, he looked almost as big as Kimahri. He was a bald man like his brother, with a long mustache that looked as if two thin snakes had bitten either side of his upper lip and continued to dangle there. Like all the Al Bhed on the island, he sported a healthy tan and encased himself in worn, tropical clothing—ones covered in a great amount of stitches to compensate for his large, muscular torso tearing the fabric every so often.

"What's this?" he said, tilting his head down to get a look at Tidus. "You're no Hypello!"

"And you're…huge!" Tidus gasped.

The man broke out into roaring laughter. "Well these are certainly interesting introductions!"

Tidus let out a nervous chuckle as he rubbed his head. "Err, sorry. I'm Tidus."

"The name's Griev. I'm the leader of this hapless gang of explorers."

"Is it true you're Cid's brother?"

Griev harrumphed and twisted his mustache between his fingers. "Know Cid, do you? I warned that brick-head he'd be headed straight for the High Court if he kept up with those excavations. Like diesel in a gas engine, Yevonites and machina don't mix."

"You mean Cid was imprisoned too?"

"'Course he was! Most of 'em Spiran Al Bhed were hunted and thrown into internment camps. Spira's no picnic for an Al Bhed these days; not that it ever really was."

"But you got away, right? So maybe we can—" Griev's roaring laughter interrupted Tidus, catching him off guard and rekindling his anger. "What is _with_ you people? There's a crisis going on and you two are laughing like a pair of hyenas!"

Griev looked to Dyce, who said a few things in Al Bhed that earned a chuckle out of his father. "Tidus, boy, life's too short to be running 'round with a short fuse," Griev said as Dyce left the hut. "Take a deep breath and cool yer engines."

"Cool my engines?" That comment just about sent Tidus through the roof. He charged up to Griev, grabbing him by his tattering shirt and forcing his head down to eye-level so that their noses barely touched. "Look, you: my friends and your family are going to be executed, and you're just sitting around in a mud house laughing your head off as if it's all a big joke! Well I'm not laughing! I need to rescue Yuna and the others, and you're going to help me whether you like it or not!"

Griev needed little effort to pry Tidus off of him. He plucked the hands from his collar and stood at his full height again, looking down into Tidus' enraged face. "You're actually serious," he said in a flat tone.

"You're damn right I am!"

Without a word, Griev walked past Tidus and sat at the table, motioning for his guest to join him. Brows still furrowed and teeth gritted, it took Tidus a moment to drag his feet and sit on a rock.

"You know," Griev began, picking up a pebble from off the map and looking at it in the air, "when I learned my sister up and married one of _them_, I knew it'd bring her nothing 'cept tragedy and heartbreak in the end. Someone was gonna die, I just never figured it'd be the both of 'em." He sighed and rubbed the pebble between his fingers. "I was away from Home when I heard; Dyce and I had already left. Sin'd taken everything worth taking, so I figured I wouldn't care anymore. 'Let 'em drop like flies,' I'd say. 'Won't bother me none anymore; I won't let it.'"

"But Yuna's old man didn't _want_ to die—he didn't set out for that! He wouldn't have even gone on the pilgrimage if Sin hadn't…you know."

"Why do you think I still have machina here?" Griev asked suddenly. He set the pebble down when Tidus didn't answer. "I'll tell you why: it's 'cuz when a man has the power to do something, he does it. When you're a summoner, you summon aeons and die; when you're an Al Bhed, you build and repair machina. That's how it works. It's in the blood and there's nothing anyone can do about it."

Tidus clenched his fists. "So you're saying you don't want to help them because it's a lost cause?"

"Everyone dies someday, especially summoners. Just so happens these folks are getting a ticket for the express line."

* * *

><p><em>I didn't think apathy was possible for someone related to Yuna.<em>

_Braska, Cid, and Rikku—all three of them went to extraordinary lengths to protect the people they cared about, not to mention the whole of Spira. Tenacity and goodwill ran in the family, that's why I couldn't understand Griev. I couldn't understand why he'd say something so coldhearted and detached._

_His determination had to be there buried somewhere under that layer of indifference, and I wasn't going anywhere until I struck pay dirt._

* * *

><p>"Do you listen to yourself? Your nieces aren't boarding a cruise ship to Luca; they're going to <em>die<em> unless we do something!" Tidus shouted, slamming his fist onto the table and sending pebbles flying in every direction. "Sure, okay; you've lost people close to you. They're gone and nothing you do will ever bring them back. But don't you understand? You have a chance now to prevent that exact kind of thing from happening again! You have the power to save the lives of the condemned! Why wait to mourn them when you can act now and enjoy life with them?"

Griev set his hands on the table and interlaced his fingers, frowning in tentative contemplation. "Let's suppose I _wanted_ to help. My team and I are hundreds of thousands of nautical miles away from Spira. We don't have any advanced set of transportation and most of my team'd flip their lids if I told 'em to pack up 'cuz we're marching back to Yevon territory. There's nothing I can do, and frankly, I don't ever want to go back there again. When the boys and I left that hellhole, we left with no intention of returning."

"You know, you may have gotten all those muscles, but Cid got all the guts and drive," Tidus said heatedly. "When he learned that Yuna had been made a summoner, he ordered the Al Bhed to find her. Cid kept her safe in an underground bunker despite her wishes, and when the Guado attacked Home, hundreds of Al Bhed gave their lives to protect her. _Hundreds_!

"And when the Guado kidnapped Yuna? Cid blew up Home and raced after her—no questions asked, no mercy shown. He got into the airship, bombed the hell out of everything in sight, and flew straight to Bevelle to save her. Cid risked _everything_ for Yuna—_everything_—treating her as if she were his own daughter!

"What about you, Griev? Aren't you her uncle, too? You'd just let your niece face execution for a mountain of phony crimes she didn't commit? You'd leave her to die all because it's too much of a hassle for you to part with your precious mud hut and sail a few thousand nautical miles?"

Tidus shot to his feet and stomped to the various pieces of machina. Grabbing the nearest sphere, he slammed it on the table in front of Griev. "You may have left Spira thinking that you don't care anymore, but I don't see you throwing away all these sphere-radio-whatsits! You still want to learn what's happening out there because deep down inside _you know_ that you can't stop caring about _everything_."

Griev fell silent. His calm exterior began to evaporate as he stared at the sphere. Trying to instinctively lean into a chair, he caught himself in time before he could topple over onto the ground. He got to his feet, walked past Tidus and stopped at the window. "Did Dyce tell you why we're here?" he asked after a while.

"What does any of that matter?" Tidus wanted to shout, but he instead settled on an irritated "no".

"We left Spira ages ago to find _Shambhala_. You've probably never heard of it; most Spirans haven't. But from some scholarly spheres we uncovered at a machina site, it suggests that the only ones on the whole continent who knew anything about it were some folks from Zanarkand."

"Well I sure as hell didn't," Tidus almost snapped, but he again withheld his tongue.

"It's said that in _Shambhala_, there's no such thing as war or sin," Griev continued as he looked up at the sky in the clearing. "People there lack envy and hatred. They're supposed to live long, full lives free of all the burdens of regular folk. I know it sounds like a kid's fairytale, but we believe it."

"Are you trying to tell me that you won't leave to help Yuna and the others because you're too busy trying to track down a myth?"

"No." Griev turned around, his eyes shining with a mischievous glint. "I'm trying to tell you that I'm a seasoned adventurer, boy, and as a seasoned adventurer—heh—I've picked up a few handy little toys along the road." Taking a device from off the nearby table, he motioned again for Tidus to sit. Griev joined him at the table and fiddled with the machina in his hands. It was a small device, almost like a sphere except with a panel of bright buttons on the golden-rimmed flat end.

"What is that?" Tidus asked.

"This here's a treasure map!" Griev said with child-like enthusiasm. "Well, not so much a map as a type of ultra-sonic infrared detector. I wasn't planning on using it 'til after we've found the Staff of the Magi here on Letho, but what better time to use it than this?"

"Griev, we don't have time for—"

"Just hold yer durn shoopuf and let me finish." Griev pressed a few buttons on the sphere until it glowed bright red and beeped. The small sphere flickered several times and then hummed and emitted a steady blue light. "Perfect working order; good. Was afraid it'd jam after those repeated dunks in the ocean." Griev stood up and made for the door. "Well, aren't you coming?" he said, stopping with his body bent and halfway over the threshold.

"Coming _where_?"

"To find the airship of course!" Griev burst into one of his signature bouts of roaring laughter as he exited the hut.

"Airship…?" Tidus jumped from his rock and chased after him. "Now we're talking!"

Outside, the fire had been doused with a bucket of water and the Al Bhed hurried around their huts packing various items, weapons, and foodstuffs into an assortment of wooden containers, satchels, and bags. Dyce sat on a nearby tree stump cooling the grey mystery substance from the pot he pulled off the fire while everyone rushed around him. He said a few words to his father in Al Bhed, who merely waved in turn as he rounded the hut.

"But won't it take a long time to find and repair it?" Tidus asked as he followed Griev around back to the cleared patch.

"We've already done all that 'bout seven years ago."

"If you already have it, why do we need to go look for it?"

"'Cuz no self-respecting explorer rides around in an airship!" Griev said as he disconnected the wires from the nearby metal rod and disassembled it. "Besides, it'd be damn near impossible to pilot one of those things on our search for _Shambhala_. The world outside of Spira's never been mapped, and flying around a bunch of foreign islands without a map's just asking for trouble."

"So where is it?"

"Don't have a clue; that's why we need this." Griev held up the blue, glowing sphere and waved it at Tidus. "This little baby here'll react with the ship and let me know how close we are to it. I set the ship on autopilot to float around a set path of coordinates, so the first step's to backtrack to that cluster of islands. Shouldn't take us more than a couple of days to find 'er from there."

"Seven years is a long time. What if it ran out of fuel and crashed?"

Griev chuckled as he coiled the stray wires and shoved them through the hut's window. "It's solar powered, so unless the sun up and died while I wasn't looking, that ship's got plenty of fuel left in 'er." After taking care of the rod, he started off for a lone palm tree in the distance that had a metal antenna protruding from its top and a machina panel and sphere strapped to its trunk. "Listen, you go join Dyce and help the others pack. They're probably a bit sore that we're leaving without the staff, so try not to startle 'em with any more outbursts, eh? Oh, and don't look anyone in the eyes."

"Why not?"

"They're still a bit shaken from that gorgon we ran into a few weeks back," Griev said as if that explained everything. But Tidus didn't understand, though when he tried to press for more information, Griev had already run out of earshot.

Returning to the main campsite, Tidus found the Al Bhed securing their equipment. Dyce, who had stuffed the mystery concoction into several grenade casings, helped three others wash a stack of bowls and plates in a nearby stream and then store everything in a couple of sacks.

"Oh, hey," he called out upon seeing Tidus. "We're just about done here and ready to go."

"You guys sure did pack fast," Tidus noted as he took one of the sacks.

"We're used to it; not to mention there's not much to take. 'Live light, travel light'—that's Pop's motto." Dyce made his way back to the stump and sat down, setting the sack next to a collection of others. "Besides, I got everyone prepped and raring to go while you were talking to Pop. I figured you'd coax him into going."

"Why did you tell me that you didn't have an airship?" Tidus asked as he sat on a nearby rock across from Dyce.

"I didn't say that. I just thought it was hilarious that you'd assume a bunch of islanders dressed in age-old rags would have something as advanced as a fully functioning flying machina." He paused to instruct a couple of Al Bhed towards the accumulation of sacks. They started taking them two by two further into the forest to where Tidus assumed they harbored a method of transportation.

"Besides," Dyce continued, "why would I admit to a stranger dressed in funny clothes that we have an airship? For all I knew, you could've been a spy from a country we've yet to discover who wanted to hinder our progress."

"Isn't that a bit paranoid?"

"It's happened. Caught some warriors from Okebar Cape trying to drive off in our sand buggy back when we were searching for the lost tomb of Ramuh."

"Maybe they just needed a ride."

"Nah. Turns out the village leader's great grandfather raided the place and he didn't want us to catch on. Needless to say, he burned at the stake not too long afterwards. The people of Okebar don't take too kindly to corrupt leaders."

"Unlike Spira…" Tidus muttered while tugging at the rope tying closed his sack of bowls. "Nice dishware, by the way. You pick it up on one of your adventures, too?"

"Nope. We made 'em. The Kainu carve their utensils out of stone. After we did some favors for them, they gave us some rocks for free on condition we did the crafting ourselves. I think they figured it'd be funny to see a bunch of foreigners screw up. Most got a good laugh out of watching Pop crack his first bowl in two."

"Wow, free rocks. Sounds like a bargain," Tidus drawled. He handed his sack to an Al Bhed that returned from the jungle.

"You'd be surprised what kinds of things people value," said Dyce. "The Kainu behead anyone who unlawfully cuts rock from the mountains."

"They place that much value on something like that?"

"It's a special kind of rock said to be blessed by a god. They carve it out of the surrounding mountains using some kind of magical ritual and make various tools, weapons, and artworks out of it. They even use obsidian from the mountain peaks as currency—look." Dyce unraveled a small pouch from the braided belt holding up his pants and picked out several lustrous, black pebbles.

"This almost looks like artwork in itself," Tidus said in awe as he took a pebble and rolled it between his index finger and thumb, marveling at its smooth, glass-like surface.

"Unlike gil, the obsidian currency is broken from larger slabs of rock and manually filed down to one of four specific weights."

Tidus held the obsidian up to the sun admiring its shine before he handed it back. "I can't believe the world outside of Spira is so…_different_."

"The world's a big place, but you'd never know that from listening to Yevon's ranting and raving."

"But what about Sin? Didn't it attack them too?"

"Oh, it did. But we found that most societies in recent centuries hadn't had much contact with it."

"Why not? Didn't Sin kill indiscriminately?"

Dyce shrugged. "It did for a long while, yeah. But something happened about 400 years ago that turned Sin away from the lands outside of Spira."

"What happened?"

"You've got me. Guess it just hated the Yevon clergy more." He let out a dry laugh as stretched his arms over his head, cracking his bones and then settling his back up against a nearby tree trunk to get comfortable.

All the while, Tidus cupped his chin and lost himself in deep thought. "That doesn't make sense," he said after a while. "If other islands were safer, why didn't people just migrate out of Spira?"

"Most likely because they don't know that there's somewhere to migrate _to_. You heard all those maesters and priests yapping away; they make Spira out to be the center of the universe. I mean, when was the last time you heard a scholar mention the history of Eden's Hollow or Xendonia?"

"But people must've explored on their ships and stuff, just like you guys. Wouldn't they come back and report home?"

"Did _we_ ever go back and report home?"

Tidus paused, thinking it a rhetorical question. But when Dyce merely yawned and stretched again, he offered an answer. "…Did you?"

"Nope."

"You mean not even Cid knows you're out here?"

"Doesn't have a clue, no. Probably thinks we're dead."

"But you have all that machina stuff! You get spherewaves and…and things!"

"So? Doesn't mean we use any of it to contact Spira. When we left Home, we didn't look back. If we do, we'll see nothing but ghosts, and who wants that? Life is for the living; it's that simple."

"What do you mean by ghosts?"

Dyce didn't answer.

"Okay, fine; you guys didn't bother telling anyone about what you've seen. But what about the people who _did_ return to Spira to spread the word? What happened to them?"

Dyce could only laugh when he looked into Tidus' intense, worried eyes. "You're asking the wrong guy," he said, sitting upright again and handing the last of the two sacks to the returning Al Bhed for transport. "But if you really want my guess, I'd say something not-so-nice happens to people who threaten Yevon's 'holy word'." He stood from the stump, idly scratching his chest as he made for his father's hut. "Pop should be just about done packing the network."

Inside, Griev had finished stuffing the remainder of his wires and gizmos into a ragged duffle bag. "Handle the map," he said to Dyce as he took his sleeping bag in his free hand.

"Think we would've found it today?"

"You tell me."

"My guess is it's sunk."

"If it's not, I'll just set the markers again. Now hurry up!" Griev left the hut.

"Suit yourself," Dyce hummed with a shrug. Spreading his arm flat against the table, he wiped the map clean of pebbles before rolling it up and slipping it into a canister.

* * *

><p>Outside, Griev gave Tidus a hearty slap on the back and led the way into the jungle. "We've got a boat anchored not too far from here," he said as the approached the others. "But first, we have to get down to shore."<p>

Just a five-minute walk from the campsite, a large, rusty trolley car greeted the travelers. Attached to two thick cables via a series of pulleys, the trolley was suspended in midair. For the first time, Tidus realized that campsite and lake were located at the top of a mountain. Cautioning his way the edge, he looked down into an expansive jungle with no ocean in sight.

"Just how far's the shore?" he asked.

"Couple hours' walk once we touch down," Griev replied as he loaded his bags into the trolley. "Should be enough room for all of us, else we'll make two trips."

"Wait—we have to go down in _that_? Is it safe?"

"'Course it is! We tuned it up ourselves!" Griev gave the trolley a proud pat that resulted in one of the window frames popping out and falling down into the greenery below without a sound. "Well, not aesthetically. But the mechanism's fine! Get in!"

Tidus took one look at the rusted brown trolley with its cracked windows, dented frame, and crooked flooring and shuddered. "Isn't there another way?"

"Three ways, boy: trolley down in ten minutes; climb down in a day; fall for twelve seconds and die." Griev signaled the Al Bhed to board. Each time a person climbed in, the trolley shook and creaked in ways that made Tidus cringe. "What's it gonna be?"

"How many times have you used it?"

"This'll be the fourth."

"And you're _sure_ it's safe?"

"Safer than my cooking!" Griev let out a thunderous laugh and grabbed Tidus by the arm, hauling him to the car's doorway. "Get in there, already! Or do you think Yuna can wait?"

That did it. With his body as stiff as a board and his fists clenched tight at his sides, Tidus took a deep breath and prepared to enter the rickety trolley. But before he could so much as touch his lifted foot inside, one of the Al Bhed grabbed him by the collar and yanked him inside, rocking the car and earning a panicked yelp from Tidus.

"What's the big idea?" he shouted, earning a few unintelligible grunts from the agitated Al Bhed. Tidus was plopped into the seat next to him—a man with a scarred face and eye patch that pressed his four-fingered left hand firmly on Tidus' shoulder to keep him from moving in his seat.

"Looks like Vaddik's in more of a rush than you are," Dyce chuckled.

"Alright, that's everyone!" Griev hunched over and squeezed himself into the remaining space next to Dyce. "_Mad'c ku_!" he called to the Al Bhed up front in the conductor's seat.

Giving the thumbs-up, the conductor pulled a squeaky lever and the trolley jerked down the cable line. Everything rumbled under Tidus' feet, and he could do little more than clench his teeth to keep from screaming. All the while, Vaddik continued to hold his shoulder, and in some ways, Tidus found it comforting. At least_ something_ sturdy was supporting him.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

The rickety trolley creaked and rumbled as it continued its descent. Tidus did his best to avoid glancing out the window, but focusing on the termite-eaten floorboards and rusted steel supports didn't make for more of a pleasant view. Instead, he took the time to study his new traveling companions. All of Griev's party managed to squeeze into the perilous trolley with supply packs strapped to their backs, none of them with even a remote hint of terror that their ride could fall to its doom at any second.

On the contrary, Dyce remained as cool as always, leaning against a rusty handrail with his hands in his pockets and not a care in the world. He let out a teary yawn and gave a dazed smile as he stared out at the scenery. Next to him, a couple of Al Bhed had taken to gambling with a pack of cards and some of that obsidian currency. The others sat in relative silence, save for Griev, who joked with the conductor. During their fits of laughter, the trolley would quake and turn Tidus all the more pale.

While suppressing a whimper, Tidus ventured a look at the man sitting across from him. Although tanned and fit like the rest of the crew, the thick veins that webbed across his face and body gave him an unsettling appearance.

"He almost looks like a Guado," Tidus thought as his eyes wandered up to meet the Al Bhed's. "Hey, two colors; just like Yuna." Almost immediately after making eye contact, the Al Bhed jumped up with a violent shout, rocking the trolley and startling the others.

"Hey, cool it!" Tidus yelped, but his outburst made the Al Bhed's shouts all the more panicked.

Dyce and a few others made to calm their comrade. They patted his back and spoke to him in their foreign tongue, but nothing could quell the man. He darted his gaze between his friends and Tidus, speaking fast, harsh words that Tidus wished he could understand.

"What's gotten into him?" Tidus asked while trying to steady himself in his shaking seat.

"Fitz thinks you're a gorgon," said Dyce in a casual voice. "And…"

"And what?"

Dyce paused to let out a large yawn.

"And _what_?" Tidus pressed, borderline hysterical as the trolley jerked to the frightened Al Bhed's every move.

"And he doesn't like the way you smell."

"What the heck is that supposed to mean?"

"You smell like a temple."

"_Like a temple_?" Tidus parroted in confusion.

"Or some variant of that," Dyce shrugged. "The translation leaves room for interpretation."

Just then, Fitz pulled out a knife only to have it yanked away by Griev. "I told you not to make eye contact with anyone," he said to Tidus. He and Fitz then engaged in some sort of debate, but before they could reach a consensus, a loud screech sounded and shook the trolley hard.

"What the heck was that?" Tidus cried as he glanced out the window in time to catch sight of a giant bird as it swooped in next to the trolley. It screeched again while taking aim with its talons to claw at the cable lines.

Dyce gave a passing glance at the bird and stifled another yawn. "Looks like Jubjub's back, Pop."

"Least he didn't bring that durned Hypello with 'im."

"I think you spoke too soon."

The grand bird clawed at the cables with its knife-like talons, stripping away the protective metal casing to weaken the trolley's support. It continued its shrieking cry, though between pauses, a subtle laughter echoed out from behind its long neck. A small, blue head popped out from under the menacing, black and white striped feathers and glared at the trolley.

"Yoo no go anywhere!" said the Hypello with a crazed look in his beady, yellow eyes. "Jubjub will eatsh yoo!"

"Don't you _ever_ give up?" Griev grunted. He gave a signal to his men, who at once drew their guns. Even the panicked Fitz forgot about Tidus and reclaimed his knife from Griev to throw at the meddlesome bird.

Tidus braced himself as one of the cables snapped and sent the trolley dipping down to one side. "Why is a bird-riding Hypello out to get you guys?" he shouted while grabbing onto Vaddik for support.

"He's a pirate," replied Dyce while straightening his ruffled shirt.

"A Hypello for a pirate?" Tidus took an awed gander at the lanky Hypello that continued to goad his bird into assaulting the trolley. At first glance, he didn't strike Tidus as the pirating type—no hooks for hands, pegged legs, or eye patches. However, his face bore several deep scars and one of his antennae flopped to the side, weighed down by a golden earring. To top things off, he had wrapped a Jolly Roger flag around his torso for a makeshift shirt.

"Now I've seen everything," Tidus muttered just before Vaddik shoved him to the side to avoid Jubjub's beak.

With the trolley dangling by an increasingly weakening cable and gunfire having little to no affect against the giant bird, two of the Al Bhed jumped onto Jubjub's beak just as it pulled out, and ran up to its head. With swords drawn, one went for the pirate while the other concentrated on the bird.

"Imposhibibble!" shouted the pirate as he went for his sword. In one swift motion, he drew his blade and tumbled back from an oncoming jab. "Give me ze gold or I cuts yoo!"

Meanwhile, Jubjub's new playmate distracted him from tearing through the final cable. He pecked and swatted at the meddlesome Al Bhed to no avail as it suffered multiple slashes across its long neck.

"While Septaar and Barduk keep them busy, we've gotta get this train chugging again," said Griev.

"Get it moving again?" Tidus almost screamed. "We're hanging on a thread as it is! We should try to climb down—maybe even hitch a ride with that bird!"

"That's just crazy talk! When Barduk's through with him, Jubjub'll be roasting on a spit. Besides, we're too high up to climb anywhere." Griev climbed out the opposite side of the car to examine the pulleys while the conductor fiddled around with the fuse box. The others continued to offer their friends cover fire.

The longer it dangled, the more the trolley fell to pieces. Chunks of the exterior blew off, and the flooring beneath Tidus' feet broke away. He almost fell through if not for Vaddik's quick reflexes.

"That was a close one," Tidus remarked. "Hurry up and do something, Griev! We're falling to pieces!"

"Relax, man. We'll be okay," said Dyce, who continued to sit without so much as lifting a finger.

"How can you be so calm at a time like this?"

"Life's too short to be screaming at every little thing, Tidus. Danger's an inevitable part of life; accept that it's there and keep living, you know?"

Tidus had a nice retort all ready to fire but Jubjub's ear-shattering screech cut him short.

After stabbing the bird and leaving his sword imbedded within its neck, Barduk jumped back and took aim with a special cannon. Cybernetically attached to his left arm in place of a hand, Barduk's cannon emitted an electric blue glow and whirring noise before firing off a super-charged shot that knocked out the bird. Jubjub gave one last shriek before plummeting to its demise, and Barduk made a quick jump for the trolley.

"Nooo! Jubjub!" the Hypello cried. He was distracted long enough for Septaar to kick the sword out of his webbed hands. "Yoo will die with Jubjub!"

The Hypello made a charge at Septaar, who retaliated with a quick punch to the pirate's head before running up Jubjub's neck and beak to follow Barduk. The force of impact from the two men hitting the trolley snapped the final cable and cut the car loose from its support.

"We should have used that bird!" Tidus shouted as he tumbled through the turbulence.

"It's a little late for that," Griev said as the trolley pushed through a cloud of pyreflies.

"We're gonna crash!"

"Remember that talk we had about you chilling out?" said Dyce, making Tidus want to smack him.

"In case you haven't noticed, we're all about to die unless we do something!"

"So we'll do something." With a snap of the fingers, Dyce coolly summoned an aura of energy that burst from his palm. He waved his hand across the trolley where the aura followed to encompass the entire car. At once, its speed decreased to a snail's pace until the car touched safely on the ground.

"What…what did you do?" Tidus asked with bewildered eyes fixed on Dyce.

"Cast a slow spell," he shrugged as he grabbed his pack.

"You didn't tell me you knew magic."

"You never asked."

"Should've seen that one coming," Tidus muttered as he grabbed a pack too and followed everyone out of the broken trolley.

Griev shouted a few orders and then led the way into the jungle, signaling for Tidus to come join him at the front of the party. "That was a close one, eh? Looks like we'll be taking the long way up the next time we come here." He gave one of his usual, boisterous laughs as he slapped Tidus on the back. "Anyway, it's just a couple hours' hike through the jungle 'til we hit the shore."

"As long as there aren't anymore pirates or giant birds, it sounds good to me."

"Don't let your guard down. That Hypello's been followin' us since we found the Lost City of Cataleica. Heck, he could jump out in front of us right now and I wouldn't bat an eyelash."

"After a fall like that, there's no way—"

A rustling noise from behind the bushes interrupted Tidus. Everyone stopped and took aim with their guns. Out jumped a stray boar that charged past the party with a loud snort. The Al Bhed relaxed and Griev let out another thunderous laugh.

"Should've seen the look on your face, boy!" he said, giving Tidus another hearty slap. "Thought your jaw was plum ready to hit the dirt."

"Well the way you were talking, I was expecting that to be the pirate…"

Dyce came up next to Tidus and shook his head. "Better go easy on him, Pop. He's got too many nerves."

"Heh, I've noticed," Griev replied with a twist of his mustache. "But hanging around us should be good medicine."

"Alright, enough already!" Tidus huffed. "We're wasting time with idle chitchat. Yuna's waiting; come on!" He stomped off, leaving Dyce and Griev to snicker at each other before following suit.

As they journeyed through the forest, the Al Bhed kept a lookout for any sign of fiends. Most remained silent, while the others whispered among each other. The most audible was Fitz, who never abandoned his fear of Tidus. Two of the others tried to calm him down, but he would hear none of it. Eventually, he snapped in a fit of worry and rushed to the head of the pack, cutting in front of Tidus' path.

"Not you again. What is it this time?"

Of course, Tidus couldn't understand any of Fitz's exclamatory remarks. The only thing that didn't require a translation was the urgency in Fitz's voice. Dyce stepped in to play mediator, and after some heated comments and knife jabs in Tidus' direction, Dyce went up to Tidus until they were face-to-face.

"What are you—"

"Look into my eyes," Dyce interjected, leaning in until their noses almost touched.

Tidus jumped away and yelped. "Hey! You're in my personal space!"

"Sorry, just had to prove a point." Dyce stepped back, and after a few more exchanges, the drama died down. Fitz gave Tidus a final once-over before walking back to his spot.

"What was all that about?" Tidus questioned.

"It's official: you're not a gorgon. You're welcome." Dyce started walking again.

"What's a gorgon, anyway?"

"A snake-like fiend that can disguise itself as a human," Dyce explained. "Look into its eyes and you'll be turned to stone. It's how we lost Bandaar."

"Who?"

"Friend of ours. There were twenty of us at first; now, only nine."

"I'm sorry…"

Dyce waved his hand in dismissal. "It happens. The world's a dangerous place."

"But still, they were your friends."

"Yeah."

The conversation died there until the silence grew too unbearable for Tidus. He glanced over his shoulder at the seven Al Bhed trailing behind him and wondered out loud, "So, we never exactly had a proper introduction…"

"What are you talking about? You said it was nice to meet them," said Dyce.

Tidus shook his head. "That's not what I mean. I don't know anyone except you, your dad, the guy who acted like my seatbelt, and the guy who said I smell like a temple—whatever that means. What's that guy's deal, anyway? He almost reminds me of Kimahri."

"Fitz? He's half Guado."

Tidus stopped. "Wait—half Guado? Does he mean that I smell like the Farplane?"

Dyce shrugged. "Maybe. Some guys see dead people, others hear them, and Fitz—he smells them."

"But that's impossible. I'm not unsent!" Tidus dropped his gaze down to his hands. "Am I…?"

* * *

><p><em>I felt trapped. That translation mishap swung my hopes around like a pendulum.<em>

_On the one hand, Fitz was part Guado, and therefore sensitive to the scent of the Farplane. It didn't necessarily mean I was unsent; maybe the aura followed me around after being pulled out of there by the Fayth. Though all things considering, that didn't seem likely._

_At the same time, Dyce mentioned the word "temple". Maybe it was all some big misunderstanding. But I couldn't be sure—not without getting the facts straight from Fitz._

* * *

><p>As he was lost in thought, Tidus received a harsh smack to the back from Vaddik who grumbled something unintelligible.<p>

"Hey! What's that for?"

"Keep moving," said Dyce. "You're not dead, man. But even if you were, it's no big deal. You're among friends."

Tidus drooped his shoulders. "But I can't be unsent," he said in a heavy voice. "I don't feel any different…"

"It's a pity you don't speak fluently, otherwise you could sit down and chat with Fitz."

"I don't suppose you have any primers on you?" Tidus ventured to ask.

Dyce shrugged. "Maybe on the ship somewhere. Unless we used them as cannon fodder."

"Wonderful…"

* * *

><p>The party continued to travel until sunset. Throughout their journey, a couple of fiends jumped out to ambush them, but their machina weapons made short work of the hungry wolves and tropical flan. When they finally reached the shore, Griev ordered the others to fetch the rowboats, which lay hidden under a pile of nets and palm tree leaves.<p>

After dragging them out, the Al Bhed set the boats into the ocean and climbed aboard. Looking out at the horizon, Tidus could see the faint silhouette of a ship in the distance. As they rowed closer, he could make out the finer details on the fully rigged ship. It was far larger than the ferry he remembered taking between the islands back in Spira, with the sails and crow's nest peaking at an incredible height. A brilliantly carved figurehead of a dragon's head graced the bow, and numerous portholes housing cannons dotted all around the hull.

"There she is—the Revenant Dragon!" Griev said with pride. "Ain't she a beaut?"

"I'll say," Tidus replied, his eyes still wide. "Where'd you get a ship like this?"

"Gift from Captain Khoras after we rescued him and his boys from the Desert Isle of Ambrose. Nasty place, that one; populated by a clan of sirens."

When they pulled up close enough, half the Al Bhed climbed up the anchor and tossed ropes down to the remaining party. The ropes were then fastened to the rowboats and fed into a pulley system onboard the ship. After everything was secured, the Al Bhed hoisted the rowboats up, allowing Tidus and the others to board.

Griev shouted some orders as he headed to the captain's quarters perched under the steering deck. But just as he reached to open the door, a powerful torrent of water struck and tossed him against the starboard rails.

"What the heck was that?" Tidus exclaimed as he turned his head portside to where a giant sea monster erupted from the ocean.

"Yoo no eshcape!" shouted the familiar high-pitched voice of everyone's least favorite pirate. Like earlier, the Hypello clung to the back of his scaly monster and rode it like a chocobo. He waved around his recovered sword and spurred the beast into bombarding the ship. "Sharky eatsh yoo and getsh me ze gold!"

The sea monster brought its head close to the deck and roared, sending mucus and saliva flying everywhere. It followed up with another powerful torrent that blasted the ship hard. Griev braced himself to stand like a rock against the pounding attack while the others manned the cannons. They fired off numerous shots to distract the beast from pummeling their leader, but every cannonball that hit ricocheted off the beast's rigid torso while imparting little damage.

"I defeat yoo now, yesh?" hollered the pirate as he jumped down to the deck and took on the Al Bhed. They surrounded him within seconds. Barduk shot the sword from his hand, and the stunning blow sent him stumbling into the arms of a muscular woman. She got the Hypello in a headlock then hauled him over to a cannon where she stuffed him inside and launched him at the sea creature. The pirate screamed as he flew square into the beat's mouth.

"Sharky, no eatsh me! I climbs out…"

While crawling down the beast's enormous, drooling tongue, the Hypello moved from fang to fang until he made it to the lower jaw. He stuck his webbed foot outside the mouth and prepared to jump when Sharky clamped it shut. The Hypello's cries of pain were muffled from within the damp mouth of beast. His exposed foot wriggled between the outer fangs until the sea creature slurped it into its mouth like a piece of spaghetti and swallowed with an audible gulp.

Tidus shook his head at the sight and sighed. "That guy is a terrible pirate."

"You're telling me," replied Dyce. "We don't even have any gold."

"Then why's he after you?"

Dyce shrugged. "Boredom, I guess."

"Sad…"

After ingesting his former master, the sea beast smashed its tail into the sea, sending a giant tidal wave crashing into the ship. The party held on to whatever they could grab to weather out the impact. Though shaken and drenched, the ship remained afloat. The Al Bhed again tried to fire their weapons, but nothing could scratch the monster's tough exterior.

"Cannon fire's no good, bullets bounce off, and swords can't cut it—what else is left?" Tidus took a quick glance around the ship, skimming over some buckets, a broom, and pile of rope—none of which could help take down a vicious sea monster. The others continued their weapon fire, some resulting to grenades that stunned the beast but did little else.

Growing agitated, the sea monster opened its jaw wide to show off its sharp, gnarled fangs as it jammed them on the side of the sip and bit out a chunk. Griev gave an angry shout and tossed the last of his grenades at the fiend's eyes. The monster let out a pain-filled howl as it lurched away its head.

That gave Tidus an idea.

"Hey, Dyce!" he shouted. "Know any thunder spells?"

"A couple. What do you have in mind?"

"Its eyes are a weak spot. If you could jolt them with enough juice, you might be able to fry its defenses!"

Dyce let out a small laugh. "It's a long shot, but those are my kind of odds anyhow." He climbed up to he crow's nest and snapped his fingers to the sky.

A dark cloud formed above the monster's head where multiple bolts of lightning erupted to strike the breast right in the eyes. It wailed in agony with each blow as its head lashed from one side to the other. Electrical sparks ran all across its body, popping out the scales until it started responding to the machina fire. The combined cannon and gunfire sunk the monster, causing another rippling tidal wave that exploded into a mist storm of pyreflies.

"That was quick thinking, boy." Griev gave Tidus another mighty slap on the back, which almost sent him toppling overboard. "Ha, ha! Now let's mop up Sharky's mucus and get goin'!" He gave new orders to his men and then retreated into the captain's quarters.

Meanwhile, Dyce disappeared somewhere into the Hold, leaving Tidus alone with the others. The crew split up with a couple of them mopping the deck while the rest primed the ship for sail. Fitz wandered by with some rope and, after giving him the eye, muttered a few words to Tidus.

"Hey, wait! Did you mean temple or Farplane?"

Fitz kept walking without pause.

"Why didn't I hunt down more of those primers when I had the chance?" Tidus groaned just as Septaar came up to him with a mop extended. "Let me guess: you want me to help swab up the mucus." Septaar offered some unintelligible words in response, and after making a few sweeping gestures with his hands, left to climb up the crow's nest. Tidus took the mop with a sigh and helped two others clean the deck. It was then that his stomach growled.

The Al Bhed helping Tidus snickered.

"Why is it that whenever I board an Al Bhed ship, I'm half starved?" Tidus hunched over hoping to suppress another growl when a woman came over and made some obscure hand motions.

"You want me to scrub the deck harder?" Tidus ventured to guess, but as he pushed the mop firmer against the ground, his stomach growled louder than before. The woman made more elaborate gestures that Tidus failed to understand, and after a while, retreated into below deck.

With a heavy sigh and a gurgling gut, Tidus returned to his tasks in defeat. "What's taking Dyce so long? I need a translator." He mopped up a great deal of mucus and floodwater before his knees buckled. The hunger had turned his legs to jelly and his head into a spinning top. After suffering a bout of vertigo, he stumbled over a bucket and crashed nose-first into the mast.

"I need food…" he murmured in a weak voice as he collapsed on the deck. His prayers were answered when the woman reemerged with a sandwich tray. She placed it next to his head and he immediately bounced back to life.

Tidus wolfed the sandwich down fast enough to almost choke. He coughed and pounded at his chest until the woman handed him a flask of water to wash it all down with.

"If Rikku were here, she'd laugh," he mused while recovering his breath.

"Nice to hear she still has a sense of humor," said Dyce while climbing out of the hold with a stack of books.

Tidus stood up with piqued interest. "What'cha got there?"

"Rustled you up some fun reads." Dyce dropped the stack into Tidus' open hands. "Was right about 'em; they were stuffed in the cannons. Good thing the guys didn't have time to fire the lower artillery, or else these things would be resting at the bottom of the ocean with our dearly departed Hypello pal."

"You found the primers?" Tidus set the books down and browsed through them, pulling out a particular volume. After skimming the pages, he turned to the woman and thanked her for the meal in Al Bhed. She giggled at his rough pronunciation and replied with something too wordy for Tidus to define.

"Got anywhere I could sit to study these?" he asked Dyce.

"I'll show you to your room."

Dyce led the way down into the lower decks. Oil lamps mounted on every other support beam carved spheres of light into the darkness as they walked past food containers and other supplies. Some rats scurried in and out of the shadows, seeking refuge in the tight gaps between crates. They passed the odd, moth-eaten hammock littered with rum bottles and melted wax candles until they came to the end of the hall.

A metal staircase descended to the farthest depths of the ship where electric lighting fixtures replaced the archaic lamps. Large wires were clamped to the reinforced steel walls, transmitting power from a nearby generator. The ship grew more technologically advanced the farther they progressed. Soon, Tidus stepped off the wooden floor onto polished, metal plating. Computers and gadgets of all shapes and sizes were embedded into the walls.

"Like what we've done to the place?" Dyce asked as he glanced over his shoulder at Tidus' awestruck face.

"It's incredible!" Tidus exclaimed. "Where'd you find the materials to build all this stuff?"

"Oh, here and there. You'd be surprised what you can do these days with a good blacksmith and alchemist."

They continued past a large LCD screen into a hall with various doors on either side. Dyce stopped at a particular room and pressed the button on the keypad next to it. The door slid open, allowing passage into a neat, little cabin with a small desk and bed.

Dyce stepped aside to let Tidus through. "Bathroom's across from you, the kitchen and dinning area are the last door at the end of the hall, and there's a supply closet three doors down."

"Thanks," Tidus said as he set his books on the desk. Beside him, a round, computerized porthole on the wall displayed a digital image of the fish filled ocean. As he turned his back to it, a shadowy creature swam past and knocked out the camera without anyone noticing. The blank screen defaulted back to a metallic wall color.

"How long are we going to be at sea?"

Dyce shrugged as he leaned in the doorway. "Depends how far the airship's drifted. Shouldn't be too far, so I'd say less than a month."

"A _month_? Griev told me a few days!"

"To intercept it, yeah. Getting back to the origin point will take a while. Maybe two weeks—three weeks? Somewhere around there."

"Yuna doesn't have that kind of time!"

"If we could get there any faster, we would."

"You mean to tell me that with all these fancy gizmos, you don't have some kind of super thrusters or engines that could speed this ship along?"

Dyce let out a small laugh. "We're explorers," he reminded Tidus. "We take our sweet time mapping out the world. Thrusters and engines aren't practical to our purposes."

"And high-tech computer screens are?" Tidus marched back out into the hall and pointed at all the electronics. "Why even bother modernizing this hunk of driftwood if you're not going to use this stuff?"

"We do use it," Dyce replied as he balled the lint in his pockets. "To log our travels."

"Log your…" Tidus gritted his teeth and grabbed hold of the nearest piece of machina. He yanked it free from the wall, wires and all, and waved it in Dyce's face. "You mean to tell me that this little thing—along with every other doodad on the wall—is to log your travels?"

Dyce flicked some lint from his fingers. "Well, not anymore; you broke it."

"You're impossible!" Tidus growled, shoving the defunct machina into Dyce's hands.

"Here's an idea: why don't you sit down, relax, and read some books to take your mind off things? I guarantee that by the time you've learned how to speak fluent Al Bhed, we'll have found the airship."

"_Hela du saad oui_…"

"Simply repeating the same thing over and over again isn't speaking."

"So I've been told," Tidus grumbled.

"Come on, now. You've had a long, stressful day." Dyce placed his hands on Tidus' shoulders and wheeled him around to his room. "I'll come back with some soothing tea and crackers for you later. Just chill for now." With that said, he pressed the control pad to shut the door, leaving Tidus alone to stew.

* * *

><p>Back topside, the crew finished prepping the ship for sail just as Griev stomped out of his quarters. With the glowing sphere in hand, he climbed the top deck to take control of the wheel.<p>

"Hoist the sails and weigh anchor!" he ordered.

"Are you sure about this, Boss?" Septaar slid down a rope and swung next to Griev. "We were so close to the staff."

"Put a cork in it. We're going to go save my niece and that's final."

"It's a lost cause. She's probably being prepped for the chopping block as we speak."

"I thought of that, too, so I checked the spherewaves. The Yevonites are waiting for the Solstice so they can 'absolve Spira of its sins' with her sacrifice."

Septaar crossed his long, lean arms and harrumphed. "That's cutting close. The Solstice is in two months."

"Makes the adventure all the more fun, no?"

Griev thundered with laughter, but Septaar failed to see the humor. "I'm not thrilled with the idea of returning to _that place_," he said.

"Neither am I," added Barduk with a grunt as he walked by carrying a heavy sack over his shoulder. Though he was an older man with graying hair, he still possessed the strength and vigor of his youth. "What the hell's gotten into you, Griev? We don't even know where that whiny straggler washed up from. It could be a trap."

"Don't start getting cranky on me, Barduk," Griev said with a twist of his mustache. "It's too late in the evening for that."

"We have a Spiran onboard who's trying to lure us back to the theocracy, and you trust him!"

"Ha, ha! You think he's a Spiran with _that_ getup? And after he went through all the trouble to say how nice it is to meet you!"

"So it's camouflage—just like they used to do back during the days of the purge," Septaar added. "The Yevonites never did learn any new tricks."

Griev gave his mustache a tug. "You can't change the facts, gentlemen; my niece is getting her head handed to her."

"Whatever you say, Boss. Just expect a big 'I told you so' waiting for you at the end of this venture." Septaar grabbed hold of another rope and climbed back up to the crow's nest.

"What about you, Barduk—want I should leave you on Letho?" asked Griev, the pep gone from his voice.

"You lead and I follow, Griev—just like always," Barduk harrumphed. "But don't expect me to trust the whelp."

"He's a guardian, Barduk," said a new voice. "It's his job to find sympathizers for his summoner."

"Stay out of this, Vaddik!" Barduk snapped. "Don't think I didn't notice you getting buddy-buddy with the whelp."

"Is it a crime to allay another man's fears?" said Vaddik while crossing his arms over his chest. "His uncertainty of our transportation stalled the journey."

"Then he should've taken the shortest route and jumped off the cliff. Would've spared us all the hardship of having to trek out here while fending off that annoying, blue gnat and his meddlesome pets."

"That's harsh, Barduk; even for you." The woman who had fed Tidus approached the debate circle. She was tanned and fit with her hair tied in a tight bun. Crows feet stretched out from her swirled eyes, and a small scar ran down her chin.

Barduk's nostrils flared. "You too, Renaae? I'm surrounded by Yevonite sympathizers!"

"No one said he was a Yevonite," said Renaae in a cool manner. "The poor boy wants to save the people he cares about. He told Dyce as much."

Barduk shot his steely glare around at everyone then grunted. "I can see the lot of you have forgotten how conniving the Yevonites can be. Don't come crying to me when we waltz into a trap and get tossed into a prison camp." He re-secured the sack on his shoulders and marched on towards the Hold.

"Barduk—!" Renaae made to go after him, but Vaddik stopped her.

"Let him go. He has a right to his suspicions."

"I know. But we don't need any trouble. We'll get plenty of that when we enter Spiran waters."

"You all worry too much," said Griev. "We'll be fine! All we have to do is swoop down with the ship, rescue Yuna and her pals, and then it's back to Letho for the Staff of the Magi. Ha, ha!"

Renaae gave a small laugh as she retreated towards the lower deck. "You always had a knack for oversimplification, Chief."

"What can I say? It's a gift." Griev moistened his index finger and held it in the air. "Darn, no wind…"

"I can fix that, Pop," said Dyce as he emerged from below deck.

"There you are, son. How's the boy holding up?"

"Edgy as ever."

"A few days at sea'll cheer him up."

"Here's hoping."

Dyce climbed up next to his father, and with a snap of his fingers, cast a glowing aura into the sky near the sails. A strong gust erupted from the glowing light to force the ship on its way.

Griev spun the wheel to correct the course with a hearty laugh. "That's the ticket!"

The ship sailed off into the night, guided by the light of the starry sky and glowing machina in the captain's hands. Though divided in their views, the crew went about their duties, unaware of the dangers clinging the hull.


End file.
